In June, Alaska Senate and House members narrowly avoided a government shutdown by agreeing on a budget in the final hour. Several items key to the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta were either left out of the budget or eventually vetoed by the governor. Some of these items may be addressed in a special session that starts on Aug. 2. Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta representative Tiffany Zulkosky left last session feeling disappointed by these actions.
One of these programs is the Power Cost Equalization program, which subsidizes rural Alaskan electricity bills to make the costs comparable to more urban areas like Anchorage, Juneau, Fairbanks, and the Matanuska-Susitna Valley.
A version of the Power Cost Equalization, or PCE, program has been funded by the state budget since 1981, but this year it was left off the state budget by the House and Senate. If the legislature doesn’t act in the next special session, it could remain unfunded for this fiscal year, causing electricity bills to double in the region. Zulkosky says that’s a big problem.
“It's an important program that provides equity. It provides fairness, and it helps people to be able to continue to put food on the table and keep their homes, while keeping their lights on,” said Zulkosky, adding that she will work towards this funding in the upcoming special session.
“Although power cost equalization funding is in question, those discussions are not over, and will continue to be a high priority for addressing as soon as possible,” she said.
A bipartisan working group has formed ahead of the next special session to discuss and compromise on priorities for the next budget, although one of its chairs said that it’s too soon to talk about the PCE. Rep. Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins said in an email that the working group has only just begun trying to work out an operational process, and said that talking about specific policy points is still a long way off. The group’s other co-chair, Sen. Lyman Hoffman of Bethel, was not available for comment. Hoffman is the creator of the billion dollar Power Cost Equalization Fund in the state treasury.
Zulkosky also pointed out her disappointment at the governor’s veto of added funding for the Tribal Child Welfare Compact. Zulkosky said that she campaigned for $3.4 million of additional funding, which would have more than tripled the existing budget. The program, which is a government to government agreement between Tribes and the State, recognizes inherent Tribal authority over the welfare of Native children. Zulkosky said that she had hoped that the additional funding passed by the state House and Senate could have more robustly addressed the inequality in treatment of Native and non-Native children.
“I am really disappointed. That Alaska Native children are about 15% of the state's general population of children, but they make up anywhere from 40 to 60% of children in the state custody system indicates that there's a system failure,” said Zulkosky.
Zulkosky applauded that at least half the funding, or $185,000, for the Kuskokwim Ice Road escaped the governor’s veto list. She said that she’s been working towards state funding for the ice road with the Native Village of Napaimute for the last several years.
The next special session of the Alaska State Legislature begins on Aug. 2. Zulkosky said that she hopes the Legislature will prioritize and address the Tribal Child Welfare Compact funding, along with the PCE.
